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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375157">ah! love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/haogender/pseuds/haogender'>haogender</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SEVENTEEN (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Soulmates, Underage Drinking, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, and they were roommates (mingyu chapter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:48:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375157</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/haogender/pseuds/haogender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Minghao was seventeen when his timer hit zero for the first time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Boo Seungkwan/Kim Mingyu, Boo Seungkwan/Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Boo Seungkwan/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i’m super inconsistent with updates so just.... Yeahhh</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minghao was seventeen when his timer hit zero for the first time.</p><p>He was in his Pre-Calculus class, doodling on the edges of his notebook. He had long finished the worksheet and notes they were assigned (as had literally everyone else in the class), and the essay from his Language Arts class could be completed later. It wouldn’t be any good if he finished it then anyway, his head ached. He wondered if he could convince his mom to let him leave early, he felt sick. It was an odd feeling, something that made him dizzy and nauseous. It was probably a sudden shift in the weather.</p><p>The door of the classroom opened, and a teenage boy was accompanied into the classroom by the junior/senior counselor. Minghao played <em>Uno!</em> with her once. She was nice. Her daughters rode the same bus home as him.</p><p>The boy in front of him whispered to the boy to the right of him, Sungho, “Is it a new kid?” Sungho shrugged, turning back to his phone. Minghao assumed he was either texting his boyfriend or the group of sophomores he was friends with. Minghao had tried to befriend them once, but they were far too loud for him. They were nice, though.</p><p>It was a new kid, the class decided in hushed conversation, as the two people conversed with the teacher. It was really more of the counselor talking while the boy stood back, moving his weight from one foot to the other. It was always uncomfortable being at the front of the class, likely more so when everyone there was a complete stranger. Minghao would have felt bad for him, but he couldn’t really feel much sympathy for anyone at 8 in the morning, especially not in <em>Pre-Calc</em>. The class sucked all emotion out of him – he should have chosen another filler math class. Plus, it was on the new guy for not making a fuss when the counselor showed him his schedule – he agreed to second period Pre-Calc, the rest of them had no choice.</p><p>Minghao’s (somewhat) bitter thoughts were disrupted by the voice of his teacher. “Sungho, raise your hand please.” Sungho’s arm went up, and the boy shuffled down the row.</p><p>He settled into the desk behind Sungho and next to Minghao, setting his books in the metal basket beneath the chair. Minghao watched him for a second, wondering if he should introduce himself, but the boy did it first.</p><p>“Hi, I’m Seungkwan.” His voice was ridiculously cute.</p><p>“Hi. I’m Minghao.” That was so <em>awkward</em>. Minghao was going to cry. That was the worst first impression ever. “Do you need help with anything? I finished the assignment.”</p><p>Seungkwan smiled – Minghao was going to die – and replied, “No, we already did this section at my old school. I just wanted to say hi.”</p><p>He waited a few minutes, then texted his mom. His head still hurt, and his brain was not going to function at all if he had to think about that beautiful boy.</p><hr/><p>It took him and Seungkwan exactly one day to become friends. Sure, it was influenced by Seungkwan searching him out and telling him that his timer hit zero when they introduced each other – and Minghao, shocked, lifting the sleeve of his sweater to find his own timer no longer counting, the script numbers on his skin reading <em>00:00:00</em>. Even if they weren’t destined by fate (or whatever) to like each other, Minghao felt that he and Seungkwan would have become friends anyway – Seungkwan was almost magnetic.</p><p>Or maybe he <em>actually</em> was, considering how often Minghao found himself leaning towards him – whether it be towards his touch when Seungkwan was playing with his hair or when they were just walking together. Seungkwan was incredibly physically affectionate, so it was nice, and he seemed to take it in stride.</p><p>Minghao’s mother was ecstatic when Seungkwan came over for the first time – they sat down and talked about girl groups for at least fifteen minutes before Minghao managed to get Seungkwan to go with him to work on the Pre-Calculus assignments.</p><p>They did that a lot, especially when exams were nearby. Seungkwan would take the bus to Minghao’s and they would ‘study’ (read: talk, watch movies, <em>maybe</em> finish an assignment, and usually fall asleep on each other). It was nice.</p><hr/><p>“You know, you’re very pretty.”</p><p>Minghao giggled shyly, face flushed from the wine he and Seungkwan had been drinking. They had found it in the pantry while looking for snacks (Minghao’s mom was away for a couple of days, so no ‘hello, gay people, have some snacks to eat while you’re being gay’ visits). It wasn’t technically Minghao’s first time drinking, but the sips of wine his eight-year-old self had from his aunt’s glass because he was thirsty weren’t really enough to say that he had been drunk before.</p><p>Minghao’s fingers moved across Seungkwan’s arm, the warmth reassuring him. His brain was having trouble processing what exactly was going on, but he knew he liked being near Seungkwan, especially then. It was like his whole brain rewired and went ‘hey, you are now just super clingy and want love.’ Seungkwan was <em>somewhere</em> around Minghao, given that Minghao could feel him and hear him breathing. It was nice and if Minghao wasn’t so achy he thought he could get used to it. It made him feel calm.</p><p>“Hao? Are you asleep?”</p><p>“Mm.”</p><p>“Do you want to sleep in the bed?” That sounded nice. Warm. Maybe not so nice if one of them puked, but Seungkwan seemed to have drunk far less – yes, Minghao remembered, he had said that his alcohol tolerance was really low. Minghao guessed his tolerance was too if he felt all gooey from a bottle. Then again, maybe he just really didn’t understand how much (or how little) alcohol a bottle of wine had. “Hao?”</p><p>“Hmm…?”</p><p>“I’m going to stand up, okay?”</p><p>Minghao did not like the thought of that. Up? That was too much. He wanted to be safe and warm and good. Up was far away. He let out a noise of discontent, hoping that would get the message along.</p><p>Apparently, it didn’t.</p><p>Seungkwan stood, his arms under Minghao’s armpits to support him while moving both of them to the bed. The movement was awkward until Minghao managed to find balance and lean against the wall with his eyes closed. “Hao, can you move the covers?” Minghao was going to cry. Seungkwan talking directly into his ear, voice soft – that was it! No more Minghao. He was gone. Cause of death: being gay.</p><p>Minghao, of course, having not actually died, pulled the covers so they would be able to get in bed. It wasn’t the first time they had slept in the same bed – they were close, it was a thing. Minghao would have been an asshole to not let Seungkwan into his bed.</p><p>It was different. Maybe because Minghao felt 100 times clingier, his whole brain going ‘Seungkwan! Seungkwan! Seungkwan!’ at light speeds. He wondered if it was just a soulmate thing – probably not. He was probably just really gay.</p><p>And, really, there was no surprise why he was! Seungkwan was pretty, nice, made sure Minghao was heard, was friends with Minghao’s mom, and his whole existence made Minghao wonder if they deserved to be soulmates. He had voiced the thought once only to have Seungkwan make a speech about how amazing Minghao was. It was cute.</p><p>They were in bed by the time Minghao’s brain calmed down. Seungkwan had turned off the lights and settled in next to Minghao, likely wearing the nightclothes he had brought months ago to keep at Minghao’s house. Minghao felt calm. The sound of and feeling of Seungkwan shifting next to him was reassuring.</p><p>“Goodnight, Hao.”</p><hr/><p>There were a few things Minghao didn’t understand about the whole timer thing. The first thing was why their timers started again when he and Seungkwan graduated high school.</p><p>“It’s like… a platonic soulmate maybe? You know?” Seungkwan had suggested at one point while they were packing his clothes.</p><p>Minghao paused, gaze resting on one of Seungkwan’s sweaters. “Maybe. We’ll just have to see, I guess. Are you keeping the teddy bear sweater?” He pulled the clothes-hanger with the sweater off to show Seungkwan. “If not, can I have it?”</p><p>“You always take it anyways, come on. Your mom keeps telling me that every time she’s sorting laundry she finds clothes you didn’t have before.” Seungkwan pulled the sweater off of the hanger, folding it and putting it in the box labeled <em>Uni</em>.</p><p>Minghao made a mental note to ask his mom to stop snitching on him. That mental note was stored with the other mental note he had made an hour earlier (to try to steal Seungkwan’s teddy bear sweater).</p><p>They packed in silence for a while, Minghao’s thoughts wandering from his time with Seungkwan to the possible new soulmate. It was curious – he knew having multiple soulmates was more common than they were taught in Health, but it was still weird to think that they might have two different soulmates. Minghao didn’t want to admit it, but the thought of Seungkwan being soulmates with someone that wasn’t him almost made him irrationally jealous.</p><p>“Hey, um…” Minghao paused, not knowing what he was trying to say. Probably something about soulmates, considering his train of thought. “I trust you a lot, so we can just see what our other soulmate is like when we meet them.” That sounded good.</p><p>Seungkwan glanced over his shoulder at Minghao, smiling reassuringly. “Yeah. No use worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ok so i lied about updates im horrible</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay. So. What do I say?”</p><p>Mingyu paced the length of the room again before returning to the bathroom, staring at the mirror. It wasn’t covered in toothpaste crust yet, so Mingyu guessed they probably cleaned it. “Hi. I’m Mingyu. Your soulmate. No! That’s dumb.” He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. “Hey, I think we might be soulmates?” Mingyu groaned, running a hand through his hair. Stupid. His soulmate’s first impression of him was going to be stupid.</p><p>The boy (man? what would one call a 21-year-old who didn’t feel mature enough to be in university?) huffed, returning to the bed he had claimed (and was willing to fight over) and sitting on his bed. He grabbed his phone off of the pillow, the pre-meeting anxiety kicking in more severely than before now that he only had a couple of minutes. He dialed the number and –</p><p> “Hey, Mingyu, what’s – ”</p><p>“What if they don’t like me? What if they’re a girl and want to date? I’m gay, Jungkook. I’m super gay, I can’t do this. Oh my god, what if they just hate me and punch me in the face and tell me to die? What if they’re dating someone? What if – ”</p><p>“How much time is left?” Mingyu liked Jungkook’s voice. He was nice and funny (and pretty but that was irrelevant). They had dated for like… two weeks at one point before realizing that they genuinely did not like each other romantically. It was probably for the better, considering their current circumstances – Jungkook’s year on his timer versus Mingyu’s less than five minutes.</p><p>Speaking of Mingyu’s timer: “I have like two minutes – they’re gonna be my roommate, Jungkook, I’m going to die. I’m going to <em>die</em>!”</p><p>“You’re not going to die – you’re fine, come on. Forget about the soulmate thing, you’re just meeting your roommate in a few minutes. They’re probably feeling the same way.”</p><p>Mingyu paced the length of the room, fidgeting. As he fidgeted, he caught sight of his timer. “Holy fuck – I’ll call you back – ” He hung up, putting his phone in his pocket, and stared at his wrist.</p><p>
  <em>00:00:00:29</em>
</p><p>Mingyu was so fucked. He was <em>so</em> fucked.</p><p>The footsteps stopped outside the door. Silence. Pause. Mingyu wondered if his soulmate was going to pick the first or the second bed, if they were going to get along, what they majored in, what they were interested in, how they were.</p><p>The door opened.</p><p>Mingyu shot up, hands tense with anxiety, fingers stretching and releasing with the need to feel something. “Hi, I’m Kim Mingyu!”</p><p>The two boys at the door returned his greeting – “I’m Minghao, hi,” and “I’m Seungkwan!”</p><p>Mingyu’s timer hit zero.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to die, Jungkook. It’s decided. I’m going to find out that only one is my soulmate tomorrow and I’m going to <em>die</em>.” Mingyu let his hand fall onto his forehead dramatically, leaning against the headboard of Jungkook’s bed. “They’re so pretty. I want to date both of them. Help me.”</p><p>“That’s gay. If it makes you feel any better, you’re pretty too,” Jungkook said, hands busy with wrapping his hair in a towel. He had chosen to grow his hair out for the first year of college with a whole spiel about commitment in university, but Mingyu knew it would only take a few months for Jungkook to cut it short. The hair maintenance seemed extensive. On the other hand, it did look nice with some butterfly clips.</p><p>Mingyu giggled, sitting back up and helping Jungkook wrap the towel around his head. “You think I’m pretty?” he cooed in a sickly-sweet voice, chortling at Jungkook’s immediate reaction of disgust.</p><p>Jungkook frowned, smacking Mingyu’s shoulder. “I hope neither of them are your soulmates and you’re gay and lonely forever.”</p><p>“That’s evil. You’re evil.”</p><p>“It’s my soulmatelessness. My heart is bitter and empty,” Jungkook proclaimed, hand placed theatrically over his heart. “It makes me super smart because my brain isn’t full of gayness.”</p><p>“That’s so sad. Can you help me with my soulmate problem, O Wise One?”</p><p>“Sure. Suffer in silence or ask them about their timers.”</p><p> </p><p>Mingyu had taken Jungkook’s advice under consideration. This meant going up to Minghao in an attempt to communicate the fact that he may be his soulmate, only to chicken out and ask how he slept instead. Minghao usually replied with a ‘good, how about you’ or, when he was feeling spicy, ‘pretty good, what about you’.</p><p>This was only for the first few days – they managed to become closer over the following weeks. Sort of a requirement when you’re paired as roommates for a year.</p><p>Mingyu found out that Seungkwan was majoring in theatre arts and Minghao was majoring in art, which explained why they passed each other so much – most of their classes were in the new liberal arts and humanities building. Mingyu, being a cinema major – meaning film, production, etc. – had a sort of love-hate relationship with performance and acting (his horror at finding out that he and Seungkwan had an acting lab together was immeasurable). Seungkwan, on the other hand, had willingly majored in theatre. Minghao was apparently a frequent volunteer to help with set design for his local arts center and was hoping to assist with any performances the Theatre and Cinema Department was putting on.</p><p>Mingyu knew they were close before meeting him. They were good at including him in everything, but it was obvious they understood each other better than he did. He did his best to try to fit himself in and understand them – he would have to understand, if he was soulmates with one of them.</p><p>Speaking of soulmates:</p><p>Mingyu had seen Seungkwan’s timer. <em>00:00:00:00</em>.</p><p>He had also seen Minghao’s timer. <em>00:00:00:00</em>.</p><p>Just his luck, right?</p><p> </p><p>Mingyu went to Jungkook. Again.</p><p>Jungkook gave him the same advice, except this time he threw a pillow at him and threatened him. Very motivational. Five stars.</p><p>With the advice (and the looming knowledge that college wasn’t forever, and they could leave at any time and he could lose them forever), Mingyu decided to confront them. ‘Confront’ is a strong word, actually. He decided to politely speak to them, bringing up the matter of them being soulmates.</p><p>The confrontation went a bit… weird. Mingyu had planned to call a roommate meeting – maybe it would be a bit of a surprise, given that those were usually for stuff like ‘hey whose jizz stains are those, you’re gross’ not for ‘hey I’m your fated love.’ The roommate meeting did not happen, as the second Mingyu had entered after his late (extremely late – it was almost midnight) Friday study session he had been grabbed, Seungkwan clinging to his jacket and mumbling.</p><p>“Hmmph-“</p><p>Mingyu allowed himself to be led over to Minghao’s bed, trying to understand the situation. The younger sat him down before sitting down next to him, muttering the words ‘warm’ and ‘big’ repeatedly. Minghao appeared from the bathroom, a spot of toothpaste on his lip. “You’re back, hey. Seungkwan had a drink.”</p><p>“Seungkwan drinks?”</p><p>“Not really.” Minghao moved to sit on Seungkwan’s bed, where his – Minghao’s, with the Kermit stickers – laptop was open. He had obviously been watching a YouTube video, but the screen wasn’t close enough to Mingyu for him to be able to decipher the title.</p><p>Seungkwan seemed to notice Mingyu’s gaze, speaking up, “we were watching… what’s his name…?” He motioned to the laptop on his bed, voice slurred. Mingyu guessed it was from both sleepiness and alcohol.</p><p>“Wonwoo.”</p><p>“The Twitch streamer?” Mingyu asked, doing his absolute hardest to pretend not to notice Seungkwan’s sweaty hand creeping into his. Minghao nodded. He was not looking at Mingyu – very clearly not looking at Mingyu. His face was… sad? Not sad, more concerned? Not even that. A noticeably light concern.</p><p>Seungkwan was leaning against the wall pillow on Minghao’s bed, one hand firmly gripping Mingyu’s and the other laying, tense, on the bed. “I feel very stupid.” His voice was far more serious than it had been before. “I’m a first-year, so I shouldn’t expect anything.” His nails dug into Mingyu’s palm. “And I think I should be calm and not upset because if I’m serious about this, I’ll have to face more auditions where I get rejected.”</p><p>Minghao had moved over to sit on Seungkwan’s other side. Seungkwan held his hand as if his life depended on it. “I’m going to be upset tonight, and I’m going to need comfort right now and that’s you two. And – yeah.”</p><p>Mingyu didn’t know if he was supposed to speak. He empathized – understood the emotion, felt as much as he could. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. He didn’t know if he was supposed to say that he didn’t know what to say.</p><p>Minghao spoke first. “I’m here. Tonight, and whenever.”</p><p>That felt right. “I am too. If you want me here, I’ll be here.” Okay, romantic, but –</p><p>“That’s so sweet. I wish we were soulmates.”</p><p>Pause.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Minghao was very clearly staring. Mingyu did not know who at. He prayed that it was not at him – he was blushing ridiculously hard. Mingyu glanced up nervously, and Minghao immediately made eye contact with him. Seungkwan seemed blissfully unaware, the minute or so of sober thought gone. He had let go of their hands, one hand picking at his lips and the other picking at the sheets.</p><p>“Kwannie? Can you sit up and show us your timer?” Minghao didn’t usually sound so… soft.</p><p>Seungkwan did so.</p><p><em>00:00:00:00</em>. Mingyu knew already, he had seen it before. He raised his wrist just as Minghao raised his. They were the same – <em>00:00:00:00</em>.</p><p>Seungkwan made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth. “That’s nice.” He sounded… in awe. “Very… good.” There was another pause – less dread in this one. More comforting. Seungkwan seemed to be formulating thoughts, the gears in his head visibly turning.</p><p>Minghao spoke up. “Mingyu, are you okay with this? Like, with us being soulmates? If you’re uncomfortable with anything and want to be just friends, please let us know.”</p><p>Mingyu was going to die. Or kiss them. Either one. Both? “I – um – I’m – I’m okay – I’m good – I wanna –“ Holy shit, how was he supposed to say that he wanted to date them and kiss them and be gay and stupid?</p><p>“Seungkwan’s drunk, so I’ll let him say his thing tomorrow, but I care a lot about you as a person so whether or not you want to be with us romantically I support you and care about you.”</p><p>Mingyu decided that Minghao was the world’s most empathetic mind-reader.</p><p>So fucking gay. Holy shit.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>mental illness go brrrr. also keep accidentally adding alcohol srry</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yep yep yep! also writing style may change, also if anyone has any suggestions drop them in curiouscat.me/fruitygyu</p></blockquote></div></div>
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